siren
/ˈsaɪəɹən/US/ˈsaɪɹən/
siren noun: one of a group of nymphs who lured mariners to their death on the rocks.
Noun
siren (plural sirens or sirenes)
- One of a group of nymphs who lured mariners to their death on the rocks.
- Now give ear to what I'm about to say to you, / and a god himself will bring it before your mind. / First, you will come to the Sirens. / These beings enthrall all men who arrive before them. […]2008 October 7, Homer, The Odyssey, North Atlantic Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 278
- One who sings sweetly and charms.
- Synonyms:
- crooner
- A dangerously seductive woman.
- Synonyms:
- vamp
- A member of Sirenia, an order of mammals.
- Synonyms:
- sirenian
- A member of a genus of aquatic salamanders of the family Sirenidae, commonly used for all species in the family Sirenidae.
- Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Hestina.
- A device, either mechanical or electronic, that makes a piercingly loud sound as an alarm or signal, or the sound from such a device.
- My attention was diverted from this sight by a furious yelling, like that of the thing called a siren in our manufacturing towns.1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 103
- There goes the siren that warns of the air raid / Then comes the sound of the guns sending flak / Out for the scramble we've got to get airborne / Got to get up for the coming attack.1984, Steve Harris, "Aces High", Iron Maiden, Powerslave.
- Synonyms:
- klaxon
- A musical instrument, one of the few aerophones in the percussion section of the symphony orchestra (patented as Acme Siren in 1895).
- An instrument for demonstrating the laws of beats and combination tones.
- An astrophysical event that can be used for calculating cosmic distances.
Verb
siren (third-person singular simple present sirens, present participle sirening, simple past and past participle sirened)
- To make a noise with, or as if with, a siren.
- To drive with a siren on.
Adjective
siren
- Relating to or like a siren.
- Synonyms:
- bewitching, enchanting, enticing, sirenic
Proper noun capitalized: Siren
Siren
- A village, the county seat of Burnett County, Wisconsin, United States.
- A town in Burnett County, Wisconsin, United States, surrounding the village of the same name.
siren meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
siren in Hindi
- सायरन, साइरन, सायरेन
siren in Tamil
- சங்கு, எச்சரிக்கை சங்கு, சங்கொலி
siren in Marathi
- सायरन, सायरेन, सायरेनिंग
siren in Urdu
- سائرن, سائرین
More languagesFewer languages
- siren in Bengali
- সাইরেন, বিপদসংকেত, মোহিনী নারী
- siren in Telugu
- సైరన్, సైరెన్
- siren in Malayalam
- സമുദ്ര അപ്സരസ്, മോഹിനി
- siren in Kannada
- ಎಚ್ಚರಿಕೆಯ ಉಲಿವು, ಸೆಳೆಹೆಣ್ಣು
- siren in Punjabi
- ਸਾਇਰਨ sāiran
- siren in Gujarati
- સાયરન, સાયરેન, સાયરન કરવા માટે
- siren in Odia
- ସାଇରେନ୍, ସାଇରନ୍, ସାଇରେନ
- siren in Nepali
- सायरन, साइरेन, साइरन
- siren in Arabic
- سِيرَانَة sīrāna, صَفّارَة ṣaffāra
- siren in Indonesian
- sirene
- siren in Thai
- ไซเรน sai-reen
- siren in Vietnamese
- tiên chim, còi máy, còi điện, xi-ren
Examples of siren in a sentence
- The sirens were seductresses who lured many sailors to their doom.
- When the full forward kicked a goal after the siren, the crowd went bunta.
- Obtaining recuperative rest is aided by quiet, not by having ambulance sirens go by every five minutes.
Synonyms of siren
Forms of siren
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | sirens |
| plural | sirenes |
| alternative form (archaic, dated) | sirene |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | sirens |
| present participle | sirening |
| past participle | sirened |
| past | sirened |
Origin of siren
From Middle English siren, from Old French sereine and Latin Sīrēn, Sīrēna, from Ancient Greek Σειρήν (Seirḗn). The mammalian sense was first attested in French in Dominique Bouhours, Les entretiens d'Ariste et d'Eugène, in 1671. The aquatic salamander sense was originally introduced by Linnaeus in 1766, for a genus of his reptiles.
Intended to be Syren, from Swedish syren (“lilac”), but miscorrected by the US Post Office, who assumed this was a misspelling.
Words formed from siren
Phrases with siren
Words that rhyme with siren
Questions about siren
- What does siren mean?
- Siren means one of a group of nymphs who lured mariners to their death on the rocks.
- What is siren in Hindi?
- Siren in Hindi is सायरन, साइरन, सायरेन. See Siren meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is siren?
- Siren can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce siren?
- Siren is pronounced /ˈsaɪəɹən/ (UK).
- What is the plural of siren?
- The plural of siren is sirens.
Words near siren in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: siren (page history and authors); Siren (page history and authors); siren (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); siren (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); siren (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); siren (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); siren (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); siren (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); siren (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); siren (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); siren (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); siren (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); siren (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-siren.wav.
Cite this entry: “siren.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/siren. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.